If the people in your home get regular use of a Chromecast, you're probably more than aware of just how inconvenient it is when the Casting device isn't handy. Sure, you can always pick up your phone or tablet and track down the Google Home app (formerly named Google Cast), but that takes a lot of taps – and most people don't have it installed or even realize it has player controls. The latest update to Google Play services takes care of this little issue by adding a long overdue and oft-requested feature: it pops up a notification with player controls anytime a Cast session is active.

Earlier this month, Google removed a number of products from the virtual shelves of the Google Store, most notably the Nexus 5X and 6P. Today the Google Store has begun selling a few new Android Wear wearables and the Philips Hue Color A19 Starter Kit.

The YouTube comments section - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Part of the reason comments can be so unbearable at times is the dreadful moderation tools, but YouTube is seeking to fix that. Today on their Creator Blog, they announced a number of changes to how comments can be moderated.

YouTube creators can now blacklist certain words or phrases, with comments violating the list requiring manual approval. In addition, creators can now opt-in to YouTube's almighty algorithm determining which comments are "potentially inappropriate," and holding them for approval.

If you've been waiting for Nougat to miraculously appear on your SHIELD Tablet... keep waiting. This is not the update you're looking for, but it's an update nonetheless. There will be minor improvements to both SHIELD Tablets including, but not limited to, an updated Vulkan API and security patches.

It's been around two months since Samsung announced the Gear S3, the third generation of its premium Tizen-powered wearable, at the IFA trade show in Berlin. Things have been surprisingly quiet since then, and certainly not so breathless as previous Samsung wearable launches... perhaps reflecting the cooling of the market towards smartwatches in general. Anyway, you'll soon be able to pre-order a new Samsung watch, and wait then wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive: pre-orders begin on Sunday, November 6th, with orders shipping out on the 18th.

By now, you need a $100 monthly Amazon budget if you want to subscribe to all of the company's paid plans and features. But if you still have a couple of dollars left in your pocket by the end of the month and you have kids that would enjoy an innovative reading experience, then you might be interested in adding another subscription to your payments.

Amazon Rapids is a quick reading and storytelling experience built around instant messaging. Stories unfold like chats between the different characters, a modern way to entice young readers between the ages 7 and 12, and introduce them to reading in a medium that they're familiar with.

I don't want to say Moto Mods are a universally bad idea, but most of the Mods that have been released so far are mediocre at best, and the prices are crazy. It's been a while since Motorola released a new Mod, but there could be more ideas floating around soon. The company has partnered with crowdfunding site Indiegogo to get developers interested in making Moto Mods.

Huawei has unveiled its latest smartphone, the Mate 9. It's big. How big, you ask? It has a 5.9-inch display, and it's got some big specs to go with it. This is the first phone with Huawei's latest Kirin ARM chip, a revamped version of the EMUI Android skin, and there's a Porche-designed special edition. The price is pretty big for Huawei too at €699 ($776). You might have the option to buy it in the US at some point as well.

We like reporting on the tiny, minuscule improvements to the Android and Google platforms here at Android Police, so we were delighted to find that in the Google Play Store, older devices have disappeared on the list of 'My Devices.' This is pretty small and insignificant to most, but it's something that will have bothered many hardcore Android fans, so it's good to see it fixed.

Previously, every device you have ever owned would be listed, right from the first Android device you used (mine was a Nexus One) to the most recent. There is still no function to manually remove a device - it still has to be told not to appear in menus - and it still shows when it was registered and last used.

You don't understand the feeling of violation that a theft causes until you open the door to your home and see everything moved, turned, tossed, and the muddy footprints of a stranger everywhere on your floor, your kitchen cabinets open, and even your bedspread removed and balled up in the garden. That happened to my family's mountain house many, many years ago, and I still remember the feeling of disgust over the scene as well as helplessness with all the police procedures that followed. The perpetrators were never caught, just like any minor theft that occurs in Lebanon — they only took small appliances — and we ended up installing gates and locks on all the windows and doors.